1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a printing method.
2. Discussion of the Background
JP-A-2005-199563 discloses an ink jet recording apparatus using an ultraviolet-ray curable ink. A carriage mounted in this ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a color ink recording head, a clear ink recording head, and an ultraviolet-ray irradiation device, in which the ultraviolet-ray irradiation device is disposed further toward the downstream side in a transfer direction of a recording medium than the color ink recording head, and the ultraviolet-ray irradiation device is also disposed further toward the downstream side in the transfer direction of the recording medium than the clear ink recording head. In addition, an amount of light to be applied by the ultraviolet-ray irradiation device is controlled depending on image quality, and the ultraviolet-ray irradiation device is located between a recording head which ejects an ink earlier of the color ink recording head and the clear ink recording head and a recording head which ejects an ink later.